Reuben Lister Allphin and Ella Elvina Asay

The Life History of Reuben Lister Allphin

By Anna Laura Allphin Chatterton (his daughter)

It was a cold and wintry Monday morning, 5 December 1887, when Reuben Lister Allphin was born in Panguitch, Garfield County, Utah, to Israel Dodge Allphin and Christiana Dolbell Riding. He had black curly hair, which was kept in long ringlets until he was six or seven years old. Reuben tells it like this. “There I went not knowing if I was a boy or a girl until one day they made the mistake of leaving me home alone with my brother George. He went to work on me and when I came out from under all those curls my true identity was known, but George wasn’t allowed to mingle with the family for some time after that. My sisters were really mad.”

Reuben loved growing up in Panguitch. In the summer he herded cows on the green foothills. In the winter he went to school. Sometimes the snow was so deep that the older men had to break trails for the children to follow.

Reuben spent the summer when he was 12 years old training a little horse which he was to race at the St. George Fair. That was to be the thrill of his life. His whole being tingled with excitement. This is the way Reuben tells the story. “The day of the races came and we started for the fair and the thrill I was looking forward to. I remember how lovely that morning was. The sun was shining so bright. The birds were singing, and the air was full of music. We were even singing. As we neared the top of Parowan Mt. We looked for a small tree to cut down to use as a drag to hold our light wagon back while we descended the north side of the mountain. I was sitting on a trunk with my back to the seat where the two men were sitting. We stopped the rig and were making ready to get out when the gun these men had standing between them discharged. The ball entered my body under my left arm passing through my body very close to my heart. That ended my horse racing career.” The nearest doctor was 20 miles away and could only be summoned by horseback. It was hours before he arrived. Reuben was bleeding profusely as he lay pale and seemingly lifeless, but the Lord was watching over him. The bleeding cleansed the wound and with the faith and prayers of his loving parents he was soon up and enjoying his youthful life again.

In 1902 the home in Panguitch was sold, and Reuben, with his mother, half sister Adelaid and her husband John C. Houston, moved to the Big Horn Basin area of northern Wyoming. They traveled by covered wagon. Reuben, now 14, was responsible for caring for and driving the horses. It was a rugged trip of 750 miles, which took eight weeks to complete. They were grateful to safely join family and friends in Lovell, Wyoming. Reuben’s father was visiting an older son by a previous marriage in Idaho at the time. Israel Dodge, then 88 years old, passed away on April 25, 1903, in Elba, Idaho.

The first winter after their arrival in Lovell was spent in a tent, and it was very cold. It was at that time that Reuben says he was “suddenly thrown into a man’s world.” His formal schooling finished with the eight grade when he left Panguitch, and he learned to do a man’s work to help provide for his family. That winter he and his half-brother, Delbert, hauled logs and lumber from a sawmill in the nearby mountains. As they had no overshoes they would wrap their feet in burlap bags and often walked beside the wagon in an effort to keep warm. He became an expert at handling horses and in his latter years enjoyed keeping fine horses to ride. He helped build roads, canals, and the railroad. He also cut and hauled ice.

The first home he helped build for his mother was soon sold and he took the responsibility of finding another lot and house to move on it. His brother, Owen, helped pay for the house, and he and Delbert remodeled and plastered it to make it livable.

On August 15, 1906, Reuben married Ella Elvina Asay. She was the daughter of Joseph Asay and Mary Amanda Roberts. Ella was born in Georgetown, Kane, Utah on September 27, 1887. She had pioneered to Lovell with her family the same year as Reuben. They had enjoyed dancing and socializing with other youth in the community and their friendship blossomed into love.

In October of 1906 Reuben’s life was threatened again when he was stricken with typhoid fever. After several weeks the doctor despaired of his life, but not his wife or mother. They summoned their Stake President, Byron Sessions, and several Priesthood bearers to administer to him. President Sessions, through the priesthood, which he held, rebuked the fever and promised Reuben that he would recover. When the brethren lifted their hands from off his head the fever, which racked his body for two months, left him and he spoke for the first time in several weeks. It took the rest of the winter for him to regain his strength.

Reuben and Ell were blessed with a baby boy on February 9, 1908. They named him Joseph A. after his maternal grandfather, Joseph Asay. They loved this little one and were broken hearted when he was taken from them with pneumonia four months later on June 7, 1908. However, on August 30, 1909 they were blessed with a baby girl whom they named Velda. When she was 18 months old Reuben received a call to serve a mission in the Eastern States. When Reuben left for this mission Ella and Velda traveled to Salt Lake City with him, where they had someone stand as proxy for little Joseph, and together they were sealed as an eternal family on June 30, 1910 in the Salt Lake Temple.

For two years Reuben served faithfully in West Virginia and Pennsylvania where he had many faith promoting experiences. Much of the time he traveled without purse or script. On one assignment he and his companion were sent to check on some members of the church in Buck Valley, Pennsylvania. They walked all day and found no one willing to listen or give them food or a bed. When night came they considered sleeping in an old barn, but after praying they were impressed to start up the mountain. Rain began to fall and it was so dark that they could hardly find their way. After what seemed to them like hours of wading through the mud and rain they reached the top of the mountain. The lights from the homes in the valley below seemed to welcome them, but as they descended one by one the lights went out. Finally, they spotted a faint light in the distance. They hurried toward it and were welcomed into the home of one of the families they had been sent to find. The woman had felt impressed to leave the light burning in the window; something she had never before done. The prayers of the two humble servants of the Lord had been answered.

Many other faith-promoting experiences occurred. He tracted, preached, baptized, blessed, sang, and even showed the Buck Valley sheep sheerer how to shear a big buck without tying him down and did it so quickly that the on-lookers were astonished. He loved his mission President, Ben E. Rich, his companions, and the people he served, and they in turn loved him.

Reuben returned home a changed man. He gained knowledge and a burning testimony that became the dominating force throughout the remainder of his life. He was ever grateful to his wife who took in washing to support her and their daughter in his absence and helped support him.

To provide for his family Reuben learned many trades. He tried farming, working in a butcher shop, sheep shearing, plastering and even dug graves with his brother Delbert. He bought an apple orchard in Imbler, Oregon and lived there a few years. Unable to support his family there they returned to Lovell. As his sons matured he taught them the plastering trade and they formed a contracting company called Allphin and Sons. Together they built many homes, commercial buildings and schools in Wyoming and Montana.

Reuben and Ella were faithful Latter-day Saints. Not only was he a loving husband and father, and she a devoted wife and mother, but also they served well in the church. He was a missionary, a bishop while living in Oregon, Stake YMMIA President, High Councilman, and Stake Genealogical Chairman. He was an excellent speaker and preached many funeral sermons. He loved his ancestors and did much research and temple work for them. When he retired he and Ella spent the winter months in St. George, Utah and Mesa, Arizona doing temple work. He led many excursions to the Idaho Falls Temple.

Reuben loved music, drama and dance. He both directed and participated in them whenever possible. He kept a journal and wrote his life story from which much of this material was taken. He loved the great outdoors and enjoyed taking his family on camping trips. He looked forward each year to fishing and hunting trips with his sons.

Reuben passed away in Lovell on December 21, 1959, after suffering for several months with cancer. Ella had told him that he couldn’t die first and leave her alone. She remained behind for three years before he came and quietly took her home. They left behind a host of friends and family who loved them dearly. Of their 11 children four preceded them in death.

The Life History of Ella Elvina Asay Allphin

By Anna Laura Allphin Chatterton (her daughter)

Ella Elvina Asay was born September 27, 1887 in Georgetown, Kane County, Utah. Her parents were Joseph Asay and Mary Amanda Roberts. Mary Amanda was Joseph’s 2^nd wife by plural marriage. He first married Julia Sophia Roberts. Joseph and Mary had 10 children. Ella was the fifth of nine girls. Their last child was a boy named Vivan. He always felt they had given him a girl’s name.

Ella was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints August 12, 1896 in Georgetown. She attended school in Georgetown until she finished 8^th grade. She had a dear friend named Annie De Pinney. Sometimes she would visit Annie and stay until it got dark, then she would be so frightened that she would run all the way home. Annie’s mother had a pet monkey that she would let sit on her shoulder and scratch her head. There was an outbreak of small pox in Georgetown after Ella had moved away, and her dear friend Annie died from the disease. Mrs. De Pinney wrote to Ella and her mother asking Ella to come and take her dear Annie’s place, but of course, Ella declined.

August 16, 1902, Joseph moved his family to Lovell, Wyoming. They traveled by covered wagon over dim trails and barely passable roads. The trip lasted seven rough weeks.

Ella’s father was a carpenter and built a two-room log house for his two families. The families lived there for a year, and then Joseph built homes for each family inside Lovell. Ella grieved the passing of her father from stomach cancer two years later.

She enjoyed socializing with the young people in the community. Among them was a handsome young man by the name of Reuben Lister Allphin. Their friendship blossomed into love and they were married in her home, the August 15, 1906. Cornelius Workman performed the ceremony.

The following October she almost lost her husband to typhoid fever. But through her great faith in the power of the priesthood he was healed. Their first child was born February 9, 1908. He was a lovely baby and they loved him dearly, but were only permitted to keep him for four months. He passed away with pneumonia on June 7, 1908. Ella bore eleven children and lost three of them as infants. Their sixth child passed away at three months with erysipelas, an inflammatory skin disease. At that time the only known treatment was a black salve that she had to cover him with daily. What a sad trial this was for her. They named this child, Reuben Lister. Their eighth child, also a boy, died shortly after birth. They named him Lawrence. When their second child, Velda, was eighteen months old, Reuben accepted a call to serve a mission in the Eastern States. Ella's faith sustained her during this separation. She provided for herself and Velda by taking in washing. In those days washing clothes was no easy task. She had to carry water from a ditch, heat it in a boiler on the big black wood or coal burning stove, and scrub them clean on a scrubbing board. Winter or summer they were hung out of doors to dry. In the winter they would be frozen stiff and were hung over chairs to finish drying. Shirts and dresses were starched and ironed with a heavy flat iron, which had to be heated on the stove. She washed for a lady who had ten children and received .50 pay. She sent money to Reuben to help him on his mission. One Christmas she sent him a home made cake; another time she sent him money to buy a watch. Frequently Reuben wrote in his journal that she had enclosed a dollar in her letter to him.

About a year after Reuben returned from his mission they moved to Imbler Oregon. Their family had now increased by another son, Alva Dodd. They bought a small apple orchard and Reuben built a home for them. Shortly after they moved to Imbler Reuben was called to be the Bishop of the Imbler Ward. Again she supported her husband in his church calling. While they lived Imbler many of their family members came to visit and spend some time with them. This included his brother, Owen, who worked as a barber and also a photographer, Grandma Allphin, Owen's daughter Ida and Ella's sister Zoe. Zoe was there when their fourth child, Anna Laura was born. The type of work Reuben did took him away from home, often for sometime, so they decided to move back to Lovell where she was closer to her family. As I said, Reuben's trades of sheep shearing and plastering took him away from home. Much of the time the major responsibility of child rearing rested on Ella. This she did well. She taught them the value of work not only by example but also by giving each one special tasks to perform. She entertained them by reciting poems and little jingles and singing delightful songs. They loved it and often coaxed her to repeat them again and again. She would stop sibling quarrels by diverting their attention with a song and dance, which she made up as she went along.

Ella learned frugality and hard work from her mother. After her father died she would help her mother and older sisters weave rugs, sew for others (often drafting their own patterns), take in washing, raise a large garden and can fruits and vegetables. Knowing these things made it possible for her to assist her husband in providing food and clothing for their large family. She was an excellent cook. When others may consider her cupboards bare she would produce a delicious meal. Her children often brought home an unexpected guest, and there was always room for one more. Some of the things her children loved best of all were her delicious squash pies, a special pickle relish they called chow, green tomato preserve, chicken noodle soup with home made noodles, and orange rolls. About a week before Christmas she would start making home made candy, fudge, divinity, peanut brittle, and taffy. In order to have any left for the holidays she would have to hide it from her candy hungry children. The three youngest remember a time when they were left home alone and their desire to sample some of this candy prompted them to search for it. They looked in every conceivable place they could imagine and were about to give up when Ella Mae lifted up a pillow on her mother's bed and there it was.

At Christmas she always did her best to see that this was a joyous time for them. She would dress baby dolls with crocheted sweaters bonnets and booties. Her daughters could always count on a new Sunday dress twice a year, at Christmas and the Fourth of July.

She raised a large garden and canned hundreds of bottles of fruit and vegetables over the years. They had a cow and pigs. It was the boy’s job to milk the cow but if they couldn't, she did. She made butter and cheese and when a hog was butchered in the fall, she would make homemade soap from the rinds and grease drippings. She would make the soap in a special tub, which was set over a fire in the back yard. She had to he careful or she would receive burns from the lye she used to make the soap. She stirred it with a wooden dowel. When it was just right she would cut it into bars and use it to do her laundry. Clothes were washed every Monday morning. She always wanted to have her wash be the first on the line and whitest in her neighborhood.

Ella was a talented lady. She loved making beautiful things with her hands. She excelled in tatting, knitting, crocheting and quilting. On one occasion she entered a National quilt-making contest. The quilt had to be of an original design. Hers depicted the Indian Medicine Wheel on the Big Horn Mountains. The quilt that took first prize was to be given to the first Lady, Eleanor Roosevelt. Great care was taken in making he quilt, and the family was pleased that she didn't take first place. It was a cherished heirloom in the family. She pieced tops for all of her grandchildren except one, who was born after her demise.

Ella was a devoted Latter-day Saint. She not only supported her husband and children in their callings in the church, she served well herself. For many years she was a faithful Visiting Teacher, and she also served in Relief Society as the Quilt Chairman, and later as the Second Counselor. Part of her responsibility as Second Counselor was to help clothe the deceased. This was a very difficult task for her, but she didn't shirk, rather she performed this task the very best she could.

When Reuben retired they spent the winter months in Mesa, Arizona and St. George, Utah doing temple. Her health was not good at this time, and she would often have to stay in her apartment, but she went whenever she could. Ella's health was poor in her later years. She had a gallbladder operation, several strokes and heart attack. She didn't want to survive her husband in death, but he was taken from her three years before her mission on earth was over. She passed away at the home of her youngest daughter, Ella Mae Hatch, in Byron, Wyoming on a Sunday evening. She had enjoyed an evening meal with the family, and had had a good laugh at her own expense, because she had put on mismatched shoes when she came to the table. She retired to bed and after a while her son-in-law, Wilder, heard her cough and went to see if she needed help. He said she raised her hand as if to reach for someone then fell back on her pillow and was gone. Surely her companion, sweetheart, and friend had come to take her home.